Resale condominium sellers and buyers across our province will be well served by new forms being issued by the Alberta Real Estate Association. I'm proud to have played a role in drafting the new listing form to address condominium properties, in re-working the offer-to-purchase form, and in creating a brand-new condominium property schedule. Together, these documents will create new clarity and protection in condominium resale transactions.
Until this provincial effort, condos were an afterthought to the standard Realtors' real estate paperwork. Condominium issues were thrown onto a "property schedule" that dealt equally with mobile homes and rental agreements in purchase negotiations. Sellers were at risk because they were required to "warrant" their corporation to be free of issues and lawsuits that the average owner could not possibly know about. Buyers were inadequately protected because common issues and necessary disclosures in condominium purchases were not anticipated by the paperwork.
Today Alberta likely leads Canada in the quality of its province-wide forms used by Realtors, so I expect they'll be copied across the land. For the first time the "condominium documents" that buyers need are anticipated at the time of listing a condo property with a Realtor, so they can be assembled before an offer to purchase is received. And the buyer is protected with clear wording that the purchase agreement is "subject to the buyer's satisfaction" with what those documents say about the condo community he may buy into.
As you'd expect, though, there are always a few "buts". The first "but" is that new-condo-home sales will still be written up on "offer to purchase" forms prepared by the developer. New-home sales, of course, have extensive disclosure requirements under Alberta's Condominium Property Act, and many builders exceed even those standards. Regardless of the forms used, we don't have many problems with reputable developers building high-quality condominium homes. If you want independent professional representation in a new-home purchase, call a condominium-specialist Realtor before you shop. Many builders will pay a Realtor a small commission to assist you with your purchase. In short, the new forms simply don't apply to new home sales.
The second "but" is that all the resale condo disclosure in the world won't help you if you can't interpret what you've been told. The new forms will smooth transactions, and ensure that you get all the information you need to evaluate a condominium corporation. The buyer's condition for satisfaction with that information is absolute. Yet 23 points of demand on the condominium property schedule, yielding perhaps 50 separate documents, won't help you if you don't read them, or if you can't evaluate what you've read. It is still up to buyers to protect themselves, perhaps with professional review of that condo documentation.
Luckily, public understanding of condominium is growing rapidly. At the same time, the quality of condo management and governance continues to improve due to maturation in the field and our new Condominium Property Act. In Alberta's cities, condo document review services on behalf of buyers are becoming more common. To my surprise, though, no other Realtor in the province but me appears to take on an advisory role regarding condo documents on behalf of buyers; likely because of fear of increased liability. Yet what are Realtors being paid for, if not to offer advice on the property under consideration for purchase?
I suppose we'll cross one real estate bridge at a time. Alberta Realtors today have forms that lay a terrific foundation for resale condominium property transactions. There is clarity, disclosure and protection that did not exist before, unless your Realtor wrote in extensive additional wording. Yet those selling still deserve help assembling the documents their buyer will require. And buyers will still need help to understand what has been disclosed to them. In all cases, hire professionals qualified to serve your specific real estate need. As a resale condo buyer, you should have expertise at your elbow with the stack of documents, so look to your Realtor, or hire outside help.
Calgary Condominium Directory
